RICHMOND, Va. -- This cold snap is one of the snappiest I can remember. I don’t recall seeing the James River quite this frozen in the 30 years I’ve been reporting in Richmond.
The James River canals seems thick enough to skate (please don’t take my word for it!) and the river itself seems to be a smooth, complete sheet of ice.
Don’t be fooled!
And don’t think this is the first time. There was a lot of ice on the river last winter, and in 2010.
But in generations past, not only did the canals and lakes in the city get cold enough for ice skating, southern families weren’t so conditioned to be deathly afraid of anything other than a manmade rink.
Skating in the Byrd Park lakes and on the canals was fairly common. The city would actually bore the ice and then give the go-ahead.
And even though previous generations didn’t give big cold snaps snappy names like Pandora or Siberian Polar Death Express, they had deep freezes that locked the waterways.
The mighty James was frozen during the big freezes in January 1977 and in February 1958 that even iced up Hampton Roads.
And in the late 1800s and early 1900s, lower temperatures meant that even port cities to the south of us (Wilmington, NC, for example) had icebreakers to keep shipping lanes open.
Ron Kelly of Chesterfield remembers his grandfather, who was born in 1900, telling him about being able to drive his model T-across the frozen James in Richmond. You can find photographs online of similar events in other cities.
Ralph White, the retired James River naturalist, said he’s only seen the James largely frozen only a time or two during his 30-plus years on the river. But never frozen completely solid.
He warns that it’s never safe to walk on it because the movement of the water and uneven temperatures create big differences in the thickness of the ice, even though the surface looks smooth and uniform.
“Don’t go out on the river’’ when it’s iced over, White warns. “But do go down and take a look at it. And get some pictures, because this is a rare time.”
Watch the video if you can’t get down to see the beautifully iced James yourself.
And please share your memories of Richmond on ice!
